Cornfield Flowers project

The third
phase of the Cornfield Flowers Project has now been completed – for the Final
Report click here. The Cornfield Flowers
Project is still running for the year 2015/16, with an Officer employed by the
Ryedale Folk Museum and funded through the Carstairs Countryside Trust.

Introduction

We like to think of our countryside as a colourful place, full of flowers, but changes in agriculture, especially the use of chemical weed-killers, has meant that many of our arable areas have been stripped of colour. Once-common arable weeds, such as Venus' looking-glass, Shepherd's needle, Prickly poppy, Narrow-fruited cornsalad, Corn buttercup, Corn marigold, Annual knawel, Large-flowered nettle and Red hemp-nettle were facing extinction in the North York Moors and the wider area but the Cornfield Flowers Project is giving them a helping hand.

The brainchild of dedicated botanist, Nan Sykes, Ian Carstairs of the Carstairs Countryside Trust and National Park Ecologist, Rona Charles, the Cornfield Flowers Project has become a showcase for the local restoration of arable plants and has lodged seeds in the Millennium Seed Bank at Kew.

The Project aimed to:

Safeguard the rare plants of arable fields in and close to the North York Moors by collecting seeds, growing the plants on and returning them to farmland

Raise awareness amongst the general public of the plight of arable flowers

Encourage farmers to use Stewardship schemes to help arable plants on their land

A bit of background

Work began by identifying 92 target species that were known to have grown in the National Park at the beginning of the 20th century. Volunteers set about finding surviving populations, collecting seed and raising young plants. For the Project to expand, a dedicated nursery was created at Ryedale Folk Museum where plants could be raised for planting in other sites.

The museum donated one of its fields enabling experimental work on establishing arable weeds in a cereal crop and allowing volunteers to gain experience in management techniques. The National Park Authority helped the Carstairs Countryside Trust to buy a field near Silpho which could be managed and plants were introduced into field margins.

Growing success

Funding enabled two officers to be recruited to the project, alongside the volunteers and land managers taking part.

Rare plant seeds were collected, grown on and plants introduced to new sites such as along the endges of arable fields. As farmers' confidence in the Project has grown, more farmland sites were established and one or two disused limestone and chalk quarries were used too. Seeds from Corn buttercup (found at only one site), Red hemp-nettle (from finds at just three sites), Shepherd's-needle (which had been found at two sites), Night-flowering catchfly, Large-flowered hemp-nettle and Hairy buttercup have all been donated to the Millennium Seed Bank and there is potential for extending expertise into the cultivation of other plants that are threatened in the wild.

Spreading the message

The Project recognised that isolated action alone is not enough and to have any guarantee of success means that the wider population must fight to save these species too.

School visits to the field at Ryedale Folk Museum have proved very popular and enable children to learn about traditional farming methods. Special events and annual harvest days were held and talks are given to local organisations.

Media coverage has included farming journals, local radio, local and national television and printed news media. The Project had stands at agricultural shows, biodiversity fairs and conferences. A high quality photographic exhibition was produced and displayed at Kew's Millennium Seedbank (see below) and a book about the project published, A Harvest of Colour, written by Ian Carstairs.

And the future?

Now that the external funding is finished, the Cornfield Flowers Project is still running for the year 2015/16, with an officer employed two days a week by the Ryedale Folk Museum.

Ensuring that the gains made since the start of the Project are not lost, as far as possible, is an important objective. This involves maintaining sites as well as contact with key farmers and land managers. Volunteers and groups are continuing to supply seeds and/or plants. There are still opportunities to promote arable flower conservation further, both in their own right and where they are associated with other threatened species that also benefit from less-intensively managed farmland.

The aim remains to ensure that key species have a more secure future.

Partners

Supporters

The project is extremely grateful to the dedicated band of volunteers, local farmers and the many organisations that have supported the project: Natural England, Campaign for the Farmed Environment, Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Country Land and Business Association, National Farmers Union, Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, the Food and Environment Research Agency, DEFRA, the Howardian Hills AONB, Ryedale District Council, Scarborough Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council.

Funders

North York Moors Sustainable Development Fund, Carstairs Countryside Trust, North York Moors Coast and Hills LEADER Programme and Heritage Lottery Fund

Cornfield flowers project species cards

Because of the rare and specialist nature, the arable plants we work with are not commonly understood. To help, we have produced a series of 'Species Cards' that explain a little more about each plant, its rarity, distribution in north east Yorkshire, growing preferences and our anecdotal experiences of working with them, for better or worse!